The Team That Couldn't Lose Read Online Free Page A

Chip had never
     heard of a coach doing things the way Phil Wayne was doing them.
    The crazy part of it was that the plays worked. That Saturday, the Cayugans played the Black Elks and came away with a win,
     20-14. The second touchdown for theCayugans had been scored by accident. The Black Elks had fumbled a snap from center, which Gordie had recovered and had run
     all the way down the field with. But the first and third touchdowns were the results of the new play Phil Wayne had taught
     them.
    The crowd, which had almost doubled since the first game, cheered their heads off when the game was over. All through the
     game, the Black Elks had looked so much better than the Cayugans that it had seemed impossible for them to lose. But lose
     they did. The Black Elks could hardly believe it themselves as they trudged off the field.
    Chip saw Phil toss the last ball into the canvas bag and could tell that the coach was anxious to leave quickly again. But
     Phil was stopped by a short, gray-haired man with a stubble of beard. It was Jasper McFall, a grumpy-looking character but
     a real football fan.
    “Say, Phil,” he said, squinting at the coach with piercing brown eyes, “where’d you get that play that you used to pull off
     those touchdowns?”
    Chip thought that Phil’s face turned a shade pale. “Just got them, Jasper,” Phil answered, his voice wavering a little. “Worked
     okay, didn’t they?”
    “They sure did. But I’m kind of curious, Phil,” Jasper McFall said. Chip took a step closer so as not to miss anything. “We
     used that play sixty years ago at the high school when I was playing backfield. Saw your first two games and recognized the
     plays you used in them, too. We used them ourselves . . . sixty years ago. Where’d
you
get them, Phil?”
    Phil’s face turned a shade paler. All at once, without saying another word to Jasper McFall, he slung the bag of football
     equipment over his shoulder and strode away. This time Danny went along with him, onehand under the bag to make it lighter for the coach. Danny looked back once and gave Jasper McFall a dirty look.
    “What about it, Mr. Quigley?” Jasper McFall asked the assistant coach. “Where did Phil get those tricky plays?”
    Mr. Quigley shrugged. “I haven’t the slightest idea, Mr. McFall. I thought they were his own.”
    “His own, nothing,” Jasper snorted. “He couldn’t dream up plays like that. You heard me say that we used those same plays
     sixty years ago, didn’t you? Well, we did. He got them from somebody who played then, and I’m going to find out who!”
    With that he gave another snort and tromped disgustedly away.

7
    D uring the noon hour on Monday, Chip and Splash went to see Jack McKane, the high school football coach. Chip had known Mr.
     McKane for years, since he was a friend of Chip’s father. Mr. McKane was six feet, four inches tall and thin as a rail. You’d
     think he’d been a basketball player back in his college days, but he hadn’t. He had played end on his football team. There
     was something else that surprised a lot of people. He wrote short stories for boys’ magazines.
    He asked the boys to sit down, then looked at them across his broad, almost bare desk.“Well, Chip, Splash, I’m honored by your visit.” Mr. McKane smiled at them. “But neither of you is a student of mine, so it
     isn’t because of poor marks, it it?”
    Chip grinned. “No, it isn’t, Mr. McKane.” Then he explained about the new plays Phil had taught them and about the plays’
     helping the Cayugans win all of their games.
    “We just want to know if you gave Phil those plays,” said Chip. “He wouldn’t say anything about them. And Jasper McFall said
     that his high school team had used them sixty years ago.”
    “Sixty years ago? And who’s Jasper McFall?”
    “An old guy who comes to all our football games,” answered Chip. “He said that he used to play in the backfield for the high
     school.”
    Mr.